Movie Reviews: Philomena, Thor: The Dark World, The Num
A joke about happy-ever-after endings runs like a seam through although the longer the joke runs, and the more it’s made at the expense of the title character’s simplicity, the more you fear that happiness will remain forever beyond her grasp. Born and raised in Tipperary, Philomena (Judi Dench) has lived most of her adult life in Britain. One day Philomena lets slip to her daughter that she once had a son; forced into a convent when she got pregnant as a teenager, Philomena had to watch as her two-year-old boy was handed over for adoption by an American couple. Enter Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), a former press secretary to Tony Blair’s Labour government and now a cynical journalist hoping to trade on Philomena’s ‘human interest’ story.
The film, directed by Stephen Frears, is adapted by Coogan and Jeff Pope from Martin Sixsmith’s account of his and Philomena’s search for her son, although the story is more digressive and nuanced than the set-up suggests. Philomena and Martin make for a hugely enjoyable odd couple: she a straight-talking working-class mother with a fondness for Mills and Boon romance novels, he a sophisticated veteran of London’s corridors of power. We are left in no doubt as to who the intellectual powerhouse of the relationship is, yet when their conversations turn to the big questions of religion and God, Philomena’s enduring faith leaves the self-professed atheist floundering, not least because of how harshly she was treated by the nuns who essentially stole her child. Dench and Coogan are wonderful together, their initial culture-clash bridged by their common goal and their mutual inability to reveal the depth of their emotions. All told, it’s a very powerful account of faith, love and acceptance.
